Medical probes such as endoscopes are used for examining and treating internal body structures such as the alimentary canals, airways, the gastrointestinal system, and other organ systems. Endoscopes have attained great acceptance within the medical community since they provide a means for performing procedures with minimal patient trauma while enabling the physician to view the internal anatomy of the patient. Over the years, numerous endoscopes have been developed and categorized according to specific applications, such as cystoscopy, colonoscopy, laparoscopy, upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy and others. Endoscopes may be inserted into the body's natural orifices or through an incision in the skin.
An endoscope is usually an elongated tubular shaft, rigid or flexible, having a video camera or a fiber optic lens assembly at its distal end. The shaft is connected to a handle, which sometimes includes an ocular lens or eyepiece for direct viewing. Viewing is also usually possible via an external screen. Various surgical tools may be inserted through a working channel in the endoscope for performing different surgical procedures.
Endoscopes typically have a front camera, and may also additionally include one or more side cameras, for viewing the internal organs, such as the colon, and an illuminator for illuminating the field of view of the camera(s). The camera(s) and illuminators are located in a tip of the endoscope and are used to capture images of the internal walls of the body cavity being scanned. The captured images are sent to a main control unit coupled with the endoscope via one of the channels present in the tube, for display on a screen coupled with the control unit.
In an endoscopy system, the main control unit, which is used to process data from an endoscope, is generally a separate unit while the endoscope itself is a device that can be attached to the main control unit. The main control unit comprises a front panel and/or a display screen for displaying operational information with respect to an endoscopy procedure when the endoscope is in use. The display screen may be configured to display images and/or video streams received from the viewing elements of the multiple viewing elements endoscope.
During an endoscopic procedure, it is important to record the location of findings or abnormalities noticed during the procedure. The location of any pathological structure, such as a polyp, inside the body can be defined by parameters such as insertion depth and the direction of the endoscope. None of the endoscopy systems currently available in the market provide a convenient method of estimating the insertion depth and direction of the device, with detailed position information, during a procedure. Position coordinates are generally provided by a physician based on a rough estimate, which are then manually input into the system to tag a specific image. In some conventional endoscopes, insertion tubes are marked with numbers which specify the depth of insertion at specified intervals from the tip section. The physicians are required to estimate the insertion depth from these numbers and manually input it into the system to tag images. However, this method is not accurate or convenient due to the wide spacing between marks and the need to manually input data.
Further, these endoscopy systems do not provide any means to accurately and/or automatically record the direction or rotational angle of an endoscope. There are endoscopy systems known in the art which use magnetic fields to estimate the location of the scope within the body; however, such devices are costly and cumbersome to use as they require external antennas to be set up for communication with the corresponding unit comprised in the distal tip of the scope. For example, ScopeGuide® by Olympus Corporation comprises electromagnetic coils emitting magnetic fields which are detected by antennae and triangulated to create a 3D image of the endoscope while inside a patient's body. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,610,007, Belson discloses an endoscope with “a selectively steerable distal portion and an automatically controlled proximal portion. The endoscope body is inserted into a patient and the selectively steerable distal portion is used to select a desired path within the patient's body. When the endoscope body is advanced, an electronic motion controller operates the automatically controlled proximal portion to assume the selected curve of the selectively steerable distal portion.”
Conventional endoscopes also suffer from the drawback of having a limited field of view. The field of view is limited by the narrow internal geometry of organs as well as the insertion port, which may be one of the body's natural orifices or an incision in the skin. Further, in order to know the exact position/orientation of an endoscope tip within a body cavity, an operating physician has to usually rely on experience and intuition. The physician may sometimes become disoriented with respect to the location of the endoscope's tip, causing certain regions of the body cavity to be scanned more than once, and certain other regions to not be scanned at all. For the early detection and cure of many diseases, such as cancer, it is essential that the body cavity be examined in a manner such that no region remains un-scanned. Also, the precision of disease detection depends upon a thorough analysis of the images of the internal regions of the body cavity collected during multiple scans separated in time.
Further, with existing systems and methods, it is difficult and expensive to provide three dimensional imaging or video recording capabilities in an endoscopic device. To enable three dimensional imaging, a higher number of cameras and hardware, such as motion sensors, are required which significantly increases the size and cost of endoscopic devices. At the same time, there is an ever-increasing requirement to reduce the size of endoscopic devices to make the procedure convenient for patients. Therefore, it becomes difficult for equipment manufacturers to provide three dimensional imaging or real time video capabilities in the device.
Thus, what is needed is a method for measuring and recording location information (both depth and direction) during an endoscopic procedure to enable automatic tagging of images with this data. In addition, what is needed is a facile and inexpensive method to implement three-dimensional imaging capabilities in endoscopic devices. What is also needed is a method for providing real-time display of the device positioning within the body to enable better navigation capabilities.
What is also needed is a method for monitoring the complete movement of a device within the body and notifying physicians in case a deviation is detected from the normally expected movement. In addition, what is also needed is a method to monitor the speed, velocity and acceleration of the device inside the body.
There is also a need for a method enabling an operating physician to scan a body cavity efficiently ensuring complete and uniform coverage. Further, there is also a need for a system and method of connecting an endoscope with a plurality of devices at various geographically separated locations in order to enable sharing of endoscopic images in real-time for obtaining improved treatment options for a patient.
Many patients are not comfortable undergoing an endoscopic procedure, and in particular a colonoscopy, as private body parts are exposed to the medical staff during the procedure. Because of this reason, a large number of patients try to avoid colonoscopy examination for fear of embarrassment or violation of religious practices, leading to an increased risk of colon cancer in the population.
Thus, what is needed is an endoscopic system that can protect the privacy of patients during a procedure as it would lead to a significant number of people opting for a colonoscopy investigation who would have otherwise refrained from the same.